Oil prices have recently reached historic lows and oil companies are faced with a number of potential legal issues as the prices impact their trading and operational agreements. In this podcast series, our energy disputes lawyers consider some of the key issues triggered by the current low oil price environment. Even investments into relatively stable … Read more

In a recent application (Shell Energy Europe Limited v Meta Energia SpA [2020] EWHC 1799 (Comm)), the English court dismissed a challenge to the court’s previous order under s66 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (“the Act”) granting leave to enforce an award. The challenge was made on the ground that the applicant was not able … Read more

On 8 July 2020, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the application of § 1782 “discovery” to aid international commercial arbitration in In Re Application of Hanwei Guo for an Order to Take Discovery for Use in a Foreign Proceeding Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (2d Cir. Case No. 19-781, July 8, … Read more

On 27 and 28 July 2020, the Supreme Court heard an expedited appeal against a recent judgment of the Court of Appeal in Enka Insaat ve Sanayi AS v OOO Insurance Co Chubb [2020] EWCA Civ 574, which we discussed in one of our previous blog posts. The Supreme Court is asked to consider two … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills invites applications for internships with the firm’s international arbitration group in Hong Kong. Four internship positions are available during 2021; each for three to four month periods (not extendable). Interns will work alongside our international arbitration team and will have a varied workload, including assistance with current arbitrations and other client work; … Read more

In Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait) [CA Paris, 23 June 2020, n°17/22943], the Paris Court of Appeal refused to set aside an arbitral award handed down by an ICC Tribunal seated in Paris, although the same award had been denied enforcement and recognition in England on the basis that the award was … Read more

In the recent case of Fimbank PLC v KCH Shipping Co Ltd [2020] EWHC 1765 (Comm), the High Court (the “Court”) refused to grant an extension of time under either s12(3)(a) or s12(3)(b) Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act”) for FIMbank PLC (“Fimbank”) to pursue a claim in arbitration against KCH Shipping Co Ltd (“KCH”). Read more

The ICC has recently published statistics for 2019, hailing it as a “record year”. 2019 saw a total of 869 cases registered (of which 851 were under the ICC Arbitration Rules). This is the second highest number of cases registered in the ICC’s history, with only 2016 having a larger caseload (966 cases). The statistics … Read more